U.S. Trailer for Acclaimed Documentary ‘The Settlers’ Explores Life in the West Bank

Written by Jonathan Dixon on February 18, 2017

With a filmmaking career extending to 35 years, the Romanian-born, Israeli-raised director Shimon Dotan (Repeat Dive, The Finest Hour, You Can Thank Me Later) will bow his latest film in U.S. theaters next month. The Settlers present audiences with the harsh reality that Jewish people who live along the West Bank face today. After earning acclaim following its Sundance Film Festival debut and appearance at New York Film Festival, the U.S. trailer has now arrived.

“Partisans on both sides of the conflict will find plenty to argue with, as would be the case with almost any movie on this topic,” Variety‘s Ben Kenigsberg writes. “The real achievement here is in going beyond the buzzwords of newscasts and talking points to convey a sense of what’s happening on the ground — and to give it a sense of urgency.”

Check out the trailer below and return for our review ahead of the theatrical release.

In June 1967, at the end of the Six-Day War, Israel literally tripled its territory, occupying the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and the West Bank. Hundreds of thousands of settlers have made homes in these Occupied Territories since that time — their presence making a peace agreement with the Palestinians infinitely more complex. THE SETTLERS takes their full measure — its focus ranging from opportunistic families seeking less costly living conditions to Western-style hippies; messianic, religious extremists to idealistic farmers; settler “patriarchs” to new converts. Israeli intellectuals, politicos, and academics weigh in on this conundrum: How can approximately a half-million people be allowed to stand in the way of a Middle Eastern peace settlement the world so desperately needs?

The Settlers will open on March 3 at Film Forum in NY and March 17 at the Laemmle Monica in LA.